Employees take center stage at Spectro Alloys 50th anniversary party

/

We’ve accomplished a lot at Spectro Alloys since our founding in 1973, including recycling nearly 6 billion pounds of aluminum. This year marks a major milestone – 50 years of operation – and we wouldn’t be where we are today without our hardworking employees.

So, we thought – why not throw a party to celebrate them?

In September, we brought Spectro employees, friends and family members together at our facilities in Rosemount to commemorate our 50th anniversary. Attendees donned yellow hard hats to take tours of our plant, socialized and enjoyed refreshments, and played yard games like bean bag toss and football. Kids also enjoyed a bounce house and free rides in our customized Polaris ATV, which contains about 80 pounds of recycled Spectro metal!

At Spectro Alloys, our employees are the heart of the company. They enable us to be an industry leader in aluminum recycling and the largest operation of its kind in Minnesota.

Our facilities received several updates this year that benefit employees, including a new conference room, breakroom, and putting green that can be used by both staff and visitors. We also recently announced a $71 million expansion at our Rosemount facility, which will not only expand our recycling capabilities but also create 50 new full-time jobs.

There’s a lot to be excited about as we celebrate 50 years of contributing to the world’s greatest recycling success story, and we can’t wait to see what the next 50 will bring!

Spectro Alloys plans first-of-its-kind, $71 million recycling expansion at Rosemount facility

/

State-of-the-art equipment will allow Spectro to produce valuable recycled products from aluminum cans and other post-consumer materials

Rosemount, Minn. – September 7, 2023 – Spectro Alloys today announced a $71 million expansion to add new aluminum recycling equipment to its Rosemount campus. The investment will allow the leading Midwest-based aluminum recycler to expand its capabilities to sort and melt post-consumer scrap aluminum and cast it into various sheet and billet alloys. This expansion is in response to the need for improved recycling rates in Minnesota, and a growing market for recycled aluminum sheet and extrusion driven by consumer demand for sustainable products, green building standards, a stable domestic supply chain and cost savings associated with recycled material. Spectro Alloys will break ground on the project in 2024 and be operational in 2025.

 To produce recycled billet and sheet ingot, Spectro Alloys is expanding its Rosemount campus to approximately 42 acres and will build a new 90,000-square-foot building along Highway 55. The first phase of the project will result in up to 120 million pounds per year of additional recycling capacity and create up to 50 new full-time jobs. Spectro Alloys is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

 “As we celebrate 50 years of responsible aluminum recycling this month, we’re looking toward the future and the opportunity to improve recycling in Minnesota,” said Luke Palen, Spectro Alloys President.

 Aluminum billet is used as raw material for extruders, who turn it into products like railings, window and door trim, and structural components for cars, boats, airplanes, trailers, docks, and more. Spectro will also recycle used beverage containers and other end of life aluminum products to produce sheet ingot – high purity slabs of aluminum weighing up to 60,000 pounds each – a feedstock for rolling mills.

 In Minnesota, only 45% of aluminum beverage containers are currently being recycled, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Spectro’s investment will promote more recycling by unlocking greater value through reuse while providing large direct environmental benefits. Spectro’s recycling process uses 95% less energy and releases 95% less CO2 than new aluminum production. With this expansion, aluminum recycling at Spectro Alloys will save enough energy to power every home in Minneapolis and St. Paul combined.

 “This investment isn’t just about adding jobs and producing more, it’s about helping Minnesota as a whole become better at recycling by creating an extremely valuable type of aluminum that manufacturers need,” Palen said. “It is about closing the loop for locally sourced materials – ensuring the value in aluminum products we use every day supports responsible recycling of aluminum right here in Minnesota.”

 The facility will include industry-leading automation and state-of-the-art equipment for sorting, melting, casting, and homogenizing aluminum scrap, and the best available technology for pollution control.

 The billet project is the latest of several investments at Spectro Alloys. The company recently debuted a new 70,000-square-foot distribution center for shipping and processing finished products, air filtration and pollution control system upgrades, and a new business office and internal facilities for its team of 140 employees.

Spectro Alloys shines at the Minnesota State Fair

/

Sustainability is a big priority at Spectro Alloys, which is why we were thrilled to make our debut at the Minnesota State Fair’s Eco Experience building this year! Spectro Alloys’ scrap, ingot and castings from brands you know and love were highlighted to show fairgoers the lifecycle of aluminum right here in Minnesota. Presented by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), the Eco Experience building features interactive exhibits on a wide range of sustainability topics from green technology to renewable energy.

Our exhibit showed how we turn aluminum scrap into items that people use every day. Fairgoers had the opportunity to guess how many aluminum cans it takes to make one aluminum ingot (988 cans!).

Partnering with the MPCA is a perfect fit because we live out our purpose each day of “Recycling for Life.” Spectro Alloys recycles about 45,000 pounds of aluminum every hour, which results in 95% less energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions compared to making it from raw materials. We’ve processed nearly 6 billion pounds of the metal since our inception in 1973, saving enough energy to power 5.4 million homes for a year (that’s more than the entire city of Minneapolis).

Sharing our recycling process with the community has been an incredibly special experience, especially getting to do it at the Great Minnesota Get Together. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to visit us, and we look forward to educating folks on the impact of aluminum recycling for years to come.

Right: Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan stopped by to try her hand at guessing how many aluminum cans it takes to make one ingot!